The use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to track, identify and locate goods has grown significantly in recent years. RFID tags allow manufacturers, distributors and retailers, amongst others, to regulate products and inventory, quickly determine production, manufacture, distribution or retail needs and efficiently intake and outtake items utilizing RFID tags. The RFID tags themselves can provide any desired product data and may be scanned or read in any of a variety of manners.
Prior to being put into use for a desired purpose, RFID tags require encoding with data pertinent for the desired purpose. Typically, such encoding is performed by the RFID tag manufacturer, and delivered down line, for example to a product supplier, distributor or reseller, where the already-encoded RFID tags are applied to corresponding products. For example, a “swing ticket” for a product may include an RFID inlay, which is encoded at the time of printing the swing ticket. The encoded swing tickets are then applied to the corresponding products. Alternatively, RFID tags may be encoded initially, combined with the tags to create an inlay, with the inlay then being applied to the corresponding products. However, present methods of encoding RFID tags can create bottlenecks and slow down the product manufacturing and distribution chains, as each encoded RFID tag must be coordinated with the particular product to which the tag corresponds.